Detox beds ‘harmful’ for opiate addiction, specialist says – CBC.ca

The provincial government’s pledge to open a lot more detox beds will certainly do a lot more harm compared to excellent in battling Alberta’s opiate crisis, an addictions specialist says. 

On Monday, the government unveiled the outcomes of a mental good health review and accepted its 32 recommendations, among which is boosting the variety of addiction treatment beds offered in Alberta.

And while detox beds can easily be valuable in treating alcohol or methamphetamine usage disorders, Dr. Hakique Virani said they have actually the opposite effect for those struggling along with opiate dependency. 

“Detox can easily regularly have actually harmful impacts on individuals that are struggling along with opiate usage disorder,” said Virani, an addiction medicine and public good health specialist at the University of Alberta. 

The likelihood of an overdose death boosts after detox since a person’s tolerance to opiates goes down, Virani explained. 

“It’s not an intervention that one would certainly recommend as a first-line treatment for opiate usage disorder,” he said. “It’s actually very concerning that we’re not obtaining it in Alberta.”

Harm reduction essential

Virani said he would certainly have actually liked to observe a lot more of an emphasis placed on harm reduction efforts.

“There are some discrete public good health interventions that have actually great evidence in terms of cutting down the population burden of opiate overdose death,” said Virani.

He said safe injection sites could go a long method in cutting down harm. 

Virani credited the province’s efforts to expand access to naloxone and said that ought to go on to be a priority. He likewise acknowledged the job that went in to studying exactly how the opiate crisis is impacting initial Nations communities. 

Still, he said he’s frustrated that the report doesn’t have actually clearer outcomes — among the 6 priority actions of the report is to establish an opiate addiction action plan.

“One would certainly chance that after 6 months of study, the recommendation would certainly be a lot more personal compared to having a plan,” Virani said.